Lifescapes

Happy Dancin' in Darling!

The Darling Dahlias are celebrating! There will be three more books in their series, after the forthcoming The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose (September, 2012). Working titles and dates: The DDs and the Spirit Bean (2013); The DDs and the Texas Star (2014); and The DDs and the Silver Dollar Bush (2015). Thanks to readers, friends, and fans for your support of this new series. The Dahlias and I couldn't do it without you!

Research Notes from the Road #2

When I was visiting the Wilder/Lane Rock House at Rocky Ridge Farm on Wednesday, Bill found this small structure in a ravine right next to the parking area. It's Almanzo Wilder's "spring house," built to keep milk, cream, butter, eggs, and other perishables cool. Bill is 6'1", so you can get a sense of the height and width of the little building. We couldn't go inside, because the door is locked, but I can guess what it looks like. My grandparents had a similar spring house on their small farm in Sullivan County, MO, about 120 miles north of Rocky Ridge, and I remember it very well from my visits there in the 1940s. It was always cool and damp, a special treat in July and August. In this one, the spring water likely flowed in through an opening in the back wall and out through a drain in the floor, through a pipe, and down the ravine. My grandparents' spring house had shelves for the food--maybe this one does, too.

When Rose Lane (Laura and Almanzo's daughter) built the Rock House as a retirement home for her parents in 1928, she had electricity installed so Laura would have a refrigerator and an electric stove--modern conveniences that few farm dwellings had at the time. But the refrigerator might not have been large enough to store all the produce they wanted to keep. What's more, Almanzo was used to using spring water to keep his milk and cream cool and he may not have trusted the electricity supply--prudent, I would say, given the possibility of wires going down. So he had this springhouse built in the ravine below the house. One of the docents mentioned it during her talk and I was delighted when Bill spotted it. Oh, and notice the sturdy door. Almanzo was making sure that critters weren't going to break in and have a feast on his food.

Home again to drought-stricken Texas. The blueblonnets were encouraged to germinate by the 3" rain we got two weeks ago, and they're putting out their true leaves now. I'm actually sorry to see them, because we're not likely to get enough rain in this coming La Nina winter to support their growth. The garden doesn't look terrible, though: I brought in some squash, cucumbers, and what might be the last   of the okra.

In our absence, a team of wild pigs came along and rooted up the yard in front of our house and made a mess of the back yard, as well. I'm just sorry I didn't have the critter cam set up, to catch them in the act. That area isn't particularly damp, but maybe they've targeted the yard because the grass (the dead grass) is more shallowly rooted and they may be finding more yummy white grubs in the soil. Bill and I have never thought of our yard as a "lawn" (lawns are what people sow, mow, fertilize, and water), and we don't mind when the deer, raccoons, skunks, possums, coyotes, turkeys, and other birds use it for a food source, a route to the creek, or a parade ground to impress their friends and lovers. So I'm not sure that I mind terribly when the pigs dig up big patches of turf. But it's open season on wild pigs in Texas, and Bill is muttering about getting out his rifle. I've never eaten a wild pig, but there's a first time for everything. I'll keep you posted.

Reading Note. A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule.--Michael Pollan

Research Notes from the Road

Those of you who are both Laura Ingalls Wilder AND Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds fans may like this photo, even if the colors aren't outstanding. It's a garden at Rocky Ridge (not LIW's original garden area, I'm sure) that is planted and maintained by the foks at Baker Creek, to demonstrate the kind of heritage (old-fashioned, open-pollinated) plants that Laura might have grown. In the garden on this October day: summer-blooming annuals (including several varieties of Love lies bleeding amaranth, asters, and sunflowers), tomatoes, and okra.

I went through both houses again, seeing some things I missed on yesterday's visit and picking up some new material and a couple of books I didn't have. I spent some time at the library in Mansfield (which is named for LIW), appreciating once again the help of a friendly and accommodating librarian (thanks, Brandy Elliott!). I had hoped to be able to browse through the 1928 and 1929 files of the Mansfield Mirror, but Larry Dennis (long-time publisher) feared that the papers were too fragile. (I worked with those newspapers back in the early 1990s, but that was 20 years ago, and they were fragile then. I understood his concern.) I'll need to check with the library where they are held on microfilm.

We had a great lunch at Estrada's, on the square in Mansfield, owned by Karen and Dwight, who serve very good Mexican food. After lunch, we drove over to Seymour, where we found a dulcimer maker who also turned out to be a fan/friend of China's and Ruby's. That's Janis Hagen on the left (I'm incognito on the right). Janis and her husband Chas and Chas's brother Mark make strikingly beautiful dulcimers and other wooden objects at the Purple Turtle in Seymour. (They're sold through Cedar Creek Dulcimers in Branson.) Really exciting to meet a new/old friend in such a small town!

It's been fun to get away from Texas' heat/drought for a few days--and good to spend some "away time" with Bill. Tomorrow, we're heading south and west, to check out a couple of wood-working places that Bill is interested in visiting. 

Rocky Ridge Farm

I'm here (with Bill) on a brief research trip this week. "Here" is the farmhouse at Rocky Ridge, the Wilders' farm just outside Mansfield MO. Laura and Almanzo Wilder, with their 7-year-old daughter Rose, came here in 1894. They moved into a one-room log house and gradually, over a period of nearly 20 years, built this substantial ten-room farmhouse.

Laura and Almanzo were living here in 1928 when Rose returned from abroad. A successful, much-published writer, she built them a smaller, more modern (and manageable) retirement home a short distance away, the Rock House. The Wilders lived in the Rock House from 1928 to 1936, while Rose lived in the farmhouse. It was during this period that the Little House books were written. It's a gorgeous setting: trees, green fields, rocky ravines, natural springs. I enjoyed the tours of both houses and the several hours I spent in the museum--especially enjoyed the time I spent listening to two very knowledgable docents. I learned some things I didn't know, saw a few things I didn't expect to see, and was delighted to recognize the wonderful little painted dropleaf table/chairs in the Rock House kitchen. Laura wrote about them in an article that appeared in the Country Gentleman.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), another visit to the houses, to the local newspaper, and to the library. We'll be heading home on Thursday, with a few stops that Bill wants to make, related to his woodworking.

Speaking of which, he has posted several new pieces on his website, including two beautiful aspen doughbowls. Do check it out.

 

A Little Bit of Green, the Drought, and the Stealth Project

First off, thanks to all who have written to ask if I'm okay! There's been a long silence on this blog, mainly because of my despair over our drought situation but also because I've been working on my stealth project, and my writing time and research energies have mostly been spent on that project. Here's an update on what's been going on at Meadow Knoll.

A Little Bit of Green. The photo shows a typical harvest for a 3-4 day period in the garden, the only green spot in an otherwise drought-burned landscape. Now that October is here and the weather is cooler (90 here most days this week, which may seem hot to you, but actually feels cool to us), I'm getting zukes, cukes, squash, and mini-melons--oh, and okra, of course! The melons, like most produce this season, are dwarfed by the heat. The sweet potatoes are stressed, only about half of my fall Irish potato planting actually came up, and my two tomato plants are blooming but not fruiting. Recently planted: lettuces (several kinds), spinach, chard, kale, carrots.

Drought Update. Blessedly, it rained on us last weekend--3+ inches! But since we're two feet (of rainfall) behind for the past twelve months, three inches didn't dent the deficit. You can see on the current drought monitor map (click to enlarge) that much of the area is in "exceptional drought." That's the very worst category the weather service has come up with--yet. Maybe super-exceptional? Stay tuned.

The lakes (Travis and Buchanan--the water supply for Austin and Hill Country towns) came up about 2 feet after last week's rain but began falling again immediately. Travis (Austin's water supply) is 39% of full. If you're a Barton Springs fan (who isn't?) the status of the aquifer that feeds the pool is "critical." Nearby Georgetown has been pumping water from Stillhouse Hollow Lake in Bell County to Lake Georgetown in Williamson County, but the pipeline failed and the city is on an emergency status.

And of course, there's La Nina, currently forecast to be moderately strong through late winter 2012, which means a drier/warmer winter than normal. Which seems to be the new normal for us. What else can I say?

Stealth Project Update. I've mainly been working on my stealth project, which is now in the hands of an agent. If she decides to represent it, she'll "shop" it to publishers who might be interested. I've been keeping it secret, but I carelessly mentioned it in a talk I gave in Seguin, in the hearing of a newspaper reporter, and next thing I knew it was out there on the web and people were noticing. (That'll teach me!)

The book has the working title of Laura's Rose: A Novel. It's the true story of the crafting of the Little House books, which were written in collaboration by Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Yes, the collaboration is a true fact and has been gradually seeping into the awareness of Laura's millions of fans over the past few years. I'm sure it comes as a shock to many, though, in the same way that it's a shock to learn that there never was a real Carolyn Keene. (I can say that, my dears, because I am--rather, I have been--one of a number of authors who worked under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene. You knew that, didn't you?) But unlike Ms. Keene, there was a real Laura and a real Rose, and together they wrote the eight books you've loved since you were a child.

I'm writing Laura's Rose as a "nonfiction novel," or "creative nonfiction." That is, I'm staying as close as I can to the facts of the matter, drawn from Rose's journals, Laura's letters, and the good work of several biographers and researchers like the astonishing Nancy Cleaveland, who owns the website Pioneer Girl--all things Laura. But I'm telling it as story, creating scenes, dialogue, setting, flashbacks and so on--using the whole novelist's bag of tricks.

Meanwhile (while I'm waiting to hear from the agent), Bill and I are taking a few days to drive up to Mansfield MO to visit Rocky Ridge, where the Little House books were written. I've been there several times at different seasons of the year, doing research. This will be the first autumn visit, and I'm looking forward to seeing some fall foliage--something other than half-charred, drought-induced brown. And no, we are not taking the dogs or the cat. They've already been booked at a nearby doggie Hilton. This is a people trip. Back next Friday, if all goes as planned.

Reading note. The secret of patience is doing something else in the meanwhile.--Anonymous